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Article: Chenin Blanc: the West's first great white is growing up.(WINE GUIDE)
- Article from:
- Sunset
- Article date:
- April 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Sunset Publishing Corp. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Chardonnay hasn't always been California's white wine of choice. Before the 1970s there was actually more Chenin Blanc planted in the state than Chardonnay--more than any other major white grape, in fact. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I have good memories of it--that sweet, simple, soft (now I'd say flabby) Christian Brothers. Many of us late boomers came of age drinking the stuff (more civilized than Thunderbird), and then moved on.
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Poor Chenin just didn't stand a chance here because of what we were doing to it: leaving loads of sugar in a wine that had no business being sweet--in this country, at least. Back then, "Americans ...